


At the end of the world

by Spannah339



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon character deaths, Drug Use, Gen, Kinda, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Whump, i mean..., it's klaus so..., its the apocalypse, slight suicidal thoughts?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 18:24:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18036518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spannah339/pseuds/Spannah339
Summary: The music rang. The world ended. The Umbrella Academy failed.Klaus woke up.





	At the end of the world

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a bit of a headcanon I have that Klaus is immortal? Idk exactly, haven't really explored it much. But yeah, enjoy!

He woke to dust and rubble and ruins. With a faint groan, Klaus shifted, dust running off his coat and rubble digging into his chest. He pushed himself up, his head spinning, and bit back his last meal with a gag. 

Once his head had stopped spinning enough for him to look around, he could do nothing but curse. He sat back, the ground shifting under him, staring out at the ruins that surrounded him. 

Everything was a bit of a blur. All he could remember was Vanya - she had been… she had been using a power. Normal Number Seven wasn’t so normal after all - Vanya had a power. For a moment, Klaus focused on that thought, his usually rapidly moving mind struggling to keep up with what had happened over the past few days. Vanya’s powers. That Leonard guy. He had been using Vanya… she had used her power… then - then he had a vague memory of a young girl on a bicycle, but he wasn’t entirely sure if that had actually happened. 

He scrambled to his feet, swaying slightly and gagging again. Stumbling, he clutched his stomach and let out a groan, supporting himself with one hand on a chunk of rubble as he spewed the contents of his stomach onto the ground. Noise - there was so much noise. So many people calling for him - begging for his help, screaming in pain. Digging rapidly through his coat, he let out a small breath of relief as he found the small packet of drugs he kept on him. 

Swallowing the pill, he closed his eyes and allowed the familiar numbness to take over, the drugs drowning out the screams of the dead. Not caring where he was going, he began to stumble through the ruins, scrambling over rubble, slipping through the streets. 

He stopped suddenly when he nearly stepped on Allison’s face. The sight was almost enough to sober him completely and he stumbled back, dropping to his knees and brushing dust off her cold form.

“A-Allison?” he breathed, staring at her for a long moment. Even in his inebriated state, he knew that this was  _ bad _ . The seriousness of it all suddenly crashed down onto him and he let out a whimper, scrambling away from his sister’s dead eyes. 

The apocalypse. The end of everything. They were dead. They were all dead. He scrambled across the rubble, crouching by Diego, shaking him, screaming, trying to wake up. Luther - his hand held out as though trying to give something away - his eyes closed peacefully in death. 

Klaus scrambled back, eyes wide, breath coming fast. 

“No. No, no, no,” he whispered, clutching his head. “No.” 

Where were they? He turned, as though expecting to see them standing over him. What was the point of his power if he couldn’t see his family!

“B-en?” he whispered, his voice breaking slightly. Surely Ben was still here - Ben couldn’t die again. Ben wouldn’t leave him alone. Not here. 

But there was no reply. No sound but the wind softly whistling through the darkening sky. Nothing but the shaking form of Klaus and the dead bodies of his family. 

He scrabbled in his coat, digging out the pills and drugs he had on him. He wanted to down them all, to finish them, to join his family. Why hadn’t he gone with them? Why hadn’t he died! 

But as he collected up the baggies that had fallen from his pockets something stopped him. He placed a hand on the dust, on his hands and knees as he stared at it. A footprint - a tiny, child’s footprint. Clear and unmistakable in the darkening evening light and the rubble surrounding it. 

A child had been here. Klaus pressed a shaking hand to the ground beside the footprint, shoulders shaking as silent sobs escaped him. He pressed his forehead to the ground, crying. Crying because he could do nothing else, crying because his family had all abandoned him. Crying because the ghosts in his head wouldn’t  _ shut up _ no matter how many drugs he took. 

He tried to talk to them all night. He screamed and he shouted and he begged and he sobbed. He tried to wake them up, to see them - even as ghosts. But no matter what he did, they didn’t come to him. His family had abandoned him - even Ben didn’t make an appearance. Maybe they had all decided that since they had managed to get away from this world together, they could enjoy whatever next life there was. He didn’t blame them. 

But it was so lonely here, in the ruins of the world, the death and destruction he had been powerless to stop. 

Eventually, he gave up. He collapsed, drifting into an uneasy sleep filled with the screams of the dead - of those who he hadn’t been able to save, of the world he had let down. 

He left in the morning. He couldn’t stand to be around his family - couldn’t stand to see their bodies slowly break down as they refused to answer him. So he left - not sure where he was going, just knowing what he was going away from. 

He stood at a crossroads as the sun began to climb to its highest point. For a moment he paused, unaware that someone else had stood here only a few hours before. Unaware that the brother who had been missing for seventeen years had taken the same path, had faced the came choice. 

Klaus went right. 

Five had gone left. 

 

He found his first replenish of the drugs he craved just as he was running out of what he had on him. Why he hadn’t downed them all on the first day and dealt with the consequences as they came he wasn’t sure, but after that, he had one goal in mind - stay high. 

It was a race - a race that deep down he knew he would never be able to win. Eventually, he would run out. He wouldn’t be able to find what he needed and he would spiral into withdrawal and the screams of the dead. But that sounded like a problem for future Klaus - now he was focused. It gave him something to live for. 

He was completely alone - no one else could have survived. He wasn’t even sure how _he_ had survived, but he knew he was alone. So it must be the drugs that made him think some places had already been ransacked. It must be the drugs that made him pause as he settled for the night in a place that seemed too comfortable to have been untouched since the apocalypse. 

No one else was here. He had to keep telling himself that, because if he began to believe anything differently he would only have his hopes dashed and destroyed. 

Eventually, he lost the race. It was inevitable, but Klaus had managed to put the day off for as long as he could. Not long enough. It never would have been. 

He all but crawled along the ground, whimpering as he scraped his hands, as the cries of the ghosts grew louder. Eventually, he gave up, vomiting profusely and collapsing, curling into himself, shaking, shivering, sweating. 

His head was pounding, his stomach heaving, his skin burning. He covered his ears as though that would block out the cries of the ghosts, whimpering softly. 

Someone was calling his name - so many people were calling for him. But this voice was louder - almost more real. He whimpered, forcing his eyes open and looking up, half expecting to see Ben looking down at him with a disappointed expression. 

Instead, he saw a different hallucination - a different long-dead brother. Five’s worried face peered down at him and Klaus grinned slightly, finding the whole thing far too amusing than he should. 

“Hey, Fivey,” he said, giggling slightly. “‘M I finally dead?” 

Five vanished from Klaus’ vision and he giggled again, groaning almost immediately. It was all too much. Easier to just forget. To just give up. So he did. He closed his eyes and let the call of the ghosts lure him into darkness. 

 

He woke to the ghosts. With a shudder, he shot upright, instantly regretting it as his head exploded in protest. Reaching wildly for his coat, he suddenly remembered that he had run out of drugs and let out a small whimper as he rested his head against the wall behind him.

Now that he was awake and semi-functioning, he took in his surroundings. It was the ruins of a house, three walls and a part of the roof still standing. Klaus was tucked into the corner - and this was definitely  _ not _ where he had passed out. 

A voice caught his attention and he focused on it, heart suddenly quickening as he realised he  _ wasn’t _ alone. Someone else was here - someone else had survived. 

“...think he survived?... I know. Maybe something to do with... yeah, with that. I mean, if you survived, surely someone else might have? Well, yeah, I wasn’t going to say  _ that _ , but still. I know, it’s improbable. Honestly, I’m just glad we’re not alone. Someone else to talk - no, Deloris. I didn’t mean it like  _ that _ !”

Klaus crawled forward slowly, not wanting to disturb whoever was talking. He could make out the shape of a small figure, huddled next to the wall. The top half of a shop display dummy sat opposite him. 

He stumbled on a loose stone, sending it clatter amongst the rubble and the boy looked up. The world seemed to freeze as Klaus stared at him, mouth wide. 

“Five?” he whispered. It couldn’t be. That didn’t make any sense - Five was gone. Five had gone. Five… Klaus glanced across the ruined house before he realised that Ben wasn’t here and he was going to have to figure this one out himself.  

“Hey,” Five said, shifted. He glanced sideways at the manikin for a second, nodded, then turned back to Klaus. “It’s me.” He spread his arms and offered a small grin. 

Klaus stared at him, trying to figure out what was happening. He sat back, pulling his coat around him and blinking. 

“I can practically hear you thinking, Klaus,” Five said dryly. Klaus closed his mouth, thinking back to the day Five had left, so many years ago. 

“How… You… You vanished - you left and… oh.” It suddenly came to him as he remembered the conversation of that long ago day. In his defence, he had been a little out of it - he barely remembered anything from when he was thirteen. “Time travel,” he said at last. Five nodded. 

“Bingo. I ended up here.” Five gave another weak smile, one that even Klaus could see right through. He was just a kid and he had been here for weeks already. Alone. But more than that - this was his _brother_. 

He shifted forward slowly, awkwardly, until he was close enough to Five to pull him into a hug. The contact sent sparks through him as Five stiffened. But he wasn’t alone - neither of them were alone and Five was  _ alive. _

The boy’s shoulders were shaking slightly and he clung to Klaus. He was sobbing silently, hands clutching Klaus’ coat, sobs racking his whole body as he cried. He was a child- he was lost and he was afraid and Klaus didn’t know what to do. 

“I - I tried. I tried to get back bu-ut I c-couldn’t,” he sobbed out. “I can’t… I saw… You were all…” he broke off, his voice watery and broken. Klaus wrapped his arms around him, rocking him slightly rubbing his back, wishing he knew how to comfort him. 

“Shh, shh, I - I’m here,” he said, “It - it’s okay.” 

He was never good at the comfort thing, and again he looked up to find Ben, to find help in his brother, but Ben was still nowhere to be seen. 

“Wh-what happened,” Five asked, breaking away from the hug and looking up at Klaus, scrubbing tears off his face. He was so  _ young _ . He had always seemed so together, so sure of himself. He had always seemed like he knew what he was doing. But now, looking at his tiny form, at the tear stains he was trying to hide, Klaus only saw a child. A child who was scared and alone and afraid. 

They had all been children. They had all been so, so young. 

He let out a long breath, a strange urge to protect this tiny human filling him. Five was by no means innocent - none of them had been - but he was a child. 

“Hey, maybe we don’t talk about -” he began, reaching to pull Five into another hug, but the boy stopped him, grabbing his arm and glaring at him, eyes hard, a tear still rolling down his cheek. 

“I need to know. And…” he glanced back and Klaus followed his gaze, making out a book -  _ the _ book. That damned book Vanya had written. “And Ben. Tell me what happened.” 

Klaus let out a long breath, tucking his hands into his armpits. 

“Alright, fine,” he said, and with a long sigh, he told Five what happened. When he had finished, he wiped his own tears surreptitiously from his eyes as Five stood, turning and walking away. He stood a few feet away, one hand on the wall. 

“I should have listened to Dad,” he said at last, his voice surprisingly even. 

“Naw,” Klaus said - any reason to not listen to Dad was a good one, in his books. “The old bastard, don’t worry abou-” 

“Don’t you see!” Five snarled, spinning on him. His eyes were blurred, his face desperate. “I should have listened to him! I should have listened. He warned me. He said… I…” He broke down again, and Klaus stood, hurrying to his side and pulling him into another hug. 

“Hey, it’s okay - shh, it’s okay,” he said, not knowing what else to do. Five shook his head, pulling back. 

“No. I-it’s not. I… I… I’m going back,” he said quietly. “I’m going back and I'm going to stop…  _ this _ .” He gestured wildly around him, then scrubbed a sleeve over his face. “I can do it and  _ I will _ .” 

Klaus grinned at him, trying not to think of what that meant for him. He couldn’t go back with Five - if Five left, he would remain here. Alone. But maybe that was for the best. Five could save the world without him, he would only get in the way. 

“That’s the spirit, Fivey!” he said, impulsively lifting the boy and swinging him around. Five looked somewhat startled, but a smile broke over his face - a  _ real _ one this time. 

And if that was all Klaus could do to help - well, it was worth all the pain he had gone through. All the pain he might still go through. 

Anything to see his brother smile. 


End file.
